Repeat DWI offender gets 45-year prison sentence

Donald Huff (left) talks with his attorney Ronald Guyer before Judge Sid Harle in the 226th State District Court sentenced Huff to 45 years in prison for felony murder in the August 2009 death of his girlfriend Arlene Harding-Watts while driving intoxicated on a motorcycle.

Photo By Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News

Donald Huff (right) is led out of the 226th District Court by a bailiff after Judge Sid Harle sentenced Huff to 45 years in prison for felony murder in the August 2009 death of his girlfriend Arlene Harding-Watts while driving intoxicated on a motorcycle.

Photo By Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News

Donald Huff sits in the Bexar County 226th District Court during jury selection in his DWI murder trial, Monday, June 24, 2013. Huff is accused of being intoxicated when he crashed his motorcycle killing his passenger, Arlene Harding-Watts in August of 2009. He had two prior DWI convictions.

Photo By Kin Man Hui / San Antonio Express-News

Donald Huff (left) talks with his attorney Ronald Guyer before his sentencing in the August 2009 death of his girlfriend.

A bomb-maker who claimed, without much success, to be a passenger on his own Harley Davidson motorcycle during a drunken wreck four years ago that killed his girlfriend was sentenced Thursday to 45 years in prison.

Jurors found Donald Huff, 54, guilty in June of felony murder. He asked state District Judge Sid Harle to determine his sentence.

Huff was originally charged with intoxication manslaughter, which would have carried a maximum 20-year punishment, for the August 2009 wreck. Prosecutors enhanced the charge by alleging that he caused the death of Arlene Kay Harding-Watts, 46, in the course of committing another felony: a third driving while intoxicated arrest.

Since that wreck, Huff has been arrested a fourth time on a DWI charge, prosecutor David Henderson said Thursday as he sought a life sentence. Huff was also on federal probation for manufacturing an explosive device, he noted.

The defendant had agreed to make a pipe bomb for a methamphetamines cook in exchange for more drugs, not realizing at the time that the explosive was intended to be used for a (foiled) retribution plot, attorneys said. He was given probation after cooperating with federal authorities.

During a brief statement to the judge, Huff said Harding-Watts, whom he had met several months earlier while purchasing cigarettes, was an excellent driver and he enjoyed letting her take control.

“I am filled with remorse that I allowed Arlene to drive the motorcycle and that I rode with her after we had been drinking alcohol, resulting in her death,” he said in an affidavit filed by attorneys Ronald Guyer and Justin Fischer.

But EMS technician Kevin Norman, who testified during Huff's jury trial that he was the first emergency responder to arrive on scene, cast doubt on the defendant's contention he was merely a passenger.

“We saw him trying to pick her up and put her on the motorcycle,” Norman said of Huff, who was later found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.17. “Common sense tells us ... that we're not going to move an individual once they're injured.”

Huff's attorneys described him as a bipolar Navy veteran and entrepreneur who at one point owned three Northeast Side auto repair shops.

“He was always employed,” Guyer said, pointing out that his client was an avid fan of outdoor activities.

While Guyer didn't suggest a specific sentence, he said his client “would someday like to fish again.”

Defense attorneys on Thursday also laid the groundwork for a new trial request, which is expected to be filed soon.

During a pretrial hearing three years earlier, San Antonio Police Officer Mark Morales testified that Huff was kneeling beside the victim — not trying to move her. He was unable to testify during the trial because of an out-of-state family obligation, defense attorneys said.

“I was the first responder there, period,” Morales said during the 2011 hearing — directly contradicting later testimony of the EMS technician.

Morales also said Huff admitted at the scene he was the one driving the motorcycle, according to a court transcript.

Huff will have to serve at least half of the 45-year sentence before he is eligible to apply for parole.